Tony Bruce Jr. on the right stands with his father Tony Sr. who is on the left with an award for finishing fourth in the points in the ASCS Racing Series in 2005 at the O`Reilly National Tour Banquet

Tony Bruce Jr. who grew up in Liberal and graduated from Liberal High School is making his name known throughout the country in the racing community.

Bruce is currently competing in two national racing series. Bruce competes in a partial schedule of the World of Outlaws, and races full-time in another series called the Lucas Oil Sprint Series.

Bruce currently sits in seventh in the points race in the Lucas Oil Sprint Series.

Bruce grew up racing in Liberal and has worked his way up to the national scene of sprint car racing. He has raced against the likes of NASCAR stars such as Tony Stewart who occasionally will race in sprint car races during off weeks.

Bruce still has his racing headquarters located in Liberal where him and his crew build cars for upcoming seasons during the short winter months that the series he races in are off.

Bruce won his first World of Outlaws race last July in Burlington, Iowa. Bruce has already won several heats this season. His first came in Wichita at the 81 Speedway, while his second was in Little Rock, Arkansas at the I-30 Speedway.

Bruce considers his sister Tara good luck when it comes to drawing for starting position in the heats. He claims every time she draws that he starts in the front row. He mentioned in his blog on his official website tonybrucejr.com that he drew 72/72 this past weekend while she was not in attendance to draw for him.

While the economy has caused massive layoffs in NASCAR, Bruce said in sprint car racing that it has actually maybe helped. He said many of the fans who usually attend NASCAR races cannot afford to so anymore so they choose to attend the Sprint Car Series races instead due to cheaper ticket prices.

Bruce will return to Kansas for two more races this season. On July 30, he will be racing in Bellville at the Bellville High Banks-All Stars. Bruce said this is a very fast track. He will then race at Thunder Hill Speedway-All Stars in Mayetta, Kansas on July 31.

As a Liberal native the town is still very much apart of Bruce's life as his athletic days at Liberal High School under former coach Gary Cornelsen has helped prepare him mentally for the challenge of wanting to win.